EU negotiator Michel Barnier warned on Monday that whatever the shifting political situation in Britain its options are limited and unchanged -- deal, no deal or no Brexit.
"Today, the fundamental choices in front of the United Kingdom remain the same: deal, no deal, no Brexit," Barnier told reporters in Nicosia after updating Cypriot authorities on the latest developments.
"Whatever happens and whatever the political situation in the UK, the issues and solutions remain the same," he added.
Barnier said the EU has "always been working for a deal" and the withdrawal agreement is the "only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal".
He noted discussion in Britain is not about the withdrawal agreement itself, but the future relationship.
"Let me be clear: if the United Kingdom still wants to leave, ratifying the withdrawal agreement is the only way to secure a transition period," said Barnier.
He said the period of transition would give Britain time to sort out its negotiation positions and ...

EU's Barnier says Britain has limited Brexit choices

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Pope Francis on Monday said "those who live with severe illness" should have life protected until "its natural end", as doctors in France began turning off the life support of a man in a vegetative state.
"We pray for those who live with severe illness," the pope tweeted.
"Let us always safeguard life, God's gift, from its beginning until its natural end. Let us not give in to a throwaway culture." The interim director of the Holy See's press office, Alessandro Gisotti, retweeted the pope's words, writing in French that "we pray for Vincent Lambert".
Lambert, 42, suffered severe brain damage from a traffic accident in 2008 and doctors were on Monday beginning to turn off his life support systems, in a hugely controversial case.
His parents, devout Catholics, have repeatedly launched court action to keep him alive, putting them at odds with Lambert's wife and five siblings who believe the most humane course is to let him die.

Pope prays as Frenchman's life support switched off

The Eiffel Tower was evacuated on Monday afternoon after a person was spotted climbing up the Paris landmark, the company that operates the structure said.
"A climber has been spotted. It's the standard procedure: We have to stop the person, and in that case we evacuate the tower," an SETE official told AFP, adding that police were on the scene.
The esplanade underneath the monument was also evacuated.
"We kindly advise our visitors to postpone their visit," the SETE added on Twitter.  Police have made contact with the climber but do not yet know why he began his ascent via the iron beams, a police source told AFP.
In October 2017 the tower was also evacuated after a young man ventured out on one of the beams and threatened to commit suicide, before police were able to convince him to come back.
Nearly seven million people a year visit the 324-metre-high structure, which last week celebrated its 130th anniversary.
The first two floors can be reached by either elevator or stairs, but ..

Eiffel Tower evacuated after climber spotted on monument

The Eiffel Tower was evacuated on Monday afternoon after a person was spotted climbing up the Paris landmark, the company that operates the structure said.
"A climber has been spotted. It's the standard procedure: We have to stop the person, and in that case we evacuate the tower," an official told AFP, adding that police were on the scene.

Eiffel Tower evacuated after climber spotted on monument: operator

Britain's Electoral Commission regulator said on Monday it would review fundraising by the new Brexit Party founded by anti-EU populist Nigel Farage, which is predicted to win this week's European elections.
"We are attending the Brexit Party's office tomorrow to conduct a review of the systems it has in place to receive funds," a spokesperson for the commission said in a statement.
"If there's evidence that the law may have been broken, we will consider that in line with our enforcement policy." The move follows a growing furore around the financing of the fledgling eurosceptic party, set up by the controversial MEP in January in protest at the government's failure to deliver Brexit.
It claims to have registered nearly 110,000 supporters paying 25 pounds (USD32, 29 euros) annual membership fees, but has drawn scrutiny for using a PayPal system that critics claim is too open.
British law only regulates donations to political parties ver 17?500, which must come from UK citizens or ...

UK election watchdog to launch review of Brexit Party finances

How we measure the world underwent a quantum leap on Monday as scientists adopted new hyper-accurate definitions for units of weight, electricity and temperature derived from the universal laws of Nature.
The change, on the occasion of World Metrology Day, sees one of science's most influential objects -- a metal cylinder used to define what a kilogram is -- retired in favour of an infinitely more precise measurement taken from a quantum ratio.
"Le Grand K", as the platinum-iridium object is known, stood as the world's benchmark of the kilogram for nearly 130 years before a decision was taken in November to bring several units of measurement into the 21st century.
"The kilogram is the last unit of measurement based on a physical object," Thomas Grenon, director of France's National Laboratory of Metrology and Testing, said after the decision last year.
"The problem is that it's had a life, it could fluctuate. That's not good enough, given the level of precision we need today."
Instead 

Mass movement: scientists adopt new kilogram definition

At least 19 people have been killed in a new bout of ethnic violence in eastern Chad, bringing the death toll since Thursday to more than 31, local officials said.
Fighting erupted on Sunday in two villages in Sila province and continued on Monday, public prosecutor Hassan Djamouss Hachimi said.
Twelve people were killed on Thursday in the neighbouring province of Ouaddai when a village was attacked by armed men.
Eastern Chad is grappling with tit-for-tat violence between native Ouaddian farmers and Arab herders.

Nineteen killed in ethnic violence in eastern Chad

At least eight members of a Ugandan football team and their fans died and 15 more are missing, after a boat they were travelling in capsized on Lake Albert, police said Monday.
The boat was travelling between two fishing villages in the west of the country when it capsized, with police attributing the accident to overloading and bad weather.
"So far we have recovered eight bodies ... up to 15 people are missing and a joint Marine unit is on the waters. But we expect no more survivors," Ugandan area regional spokesman, Julius Allan Hakiza, told AFP.
A local official in Fofo, Baker Ogen, told AFP the toll was higher.
"Those who have died in this tragedy are 30 and all from my area," said Ogen.
"The boat was loaded with our players and supporters. It had over 60 people but 32 of those survived," he said, adding that the dead included five players and the team coach.
"It is a tragedy for us and a big loss," he added.
In December 2016, at least 30 Ugandan members of a village football team 

Uganda footballers, fans killed in boat capsize

Alitalia has scrapped around half its flights scheduled for Tuesday after a call to strike by Italian pilots, cabin crew and ground staff.
The industrial action by employees of Alitalia, Blue Air and Blue Panorama was confirmed Monday over the future of the sector and specifically that of the troubled national carrier.
Alitalia has cancelled around half its flights on Tuesday, as well as some late Monday and early Wednesday. The company said it hoped to get 60 per cent of passengers to their destination.
Unions lamented "on the one hand, a rising number of passengers and flights, and on the other a proliferation of bankruptcies", a statement said.
They are worried about Alitalia's future and want their jobs protected.
The Italian government earlier this month extended to June 15 a deadline for the state railway to submit a concrete takeover offer, following a request from Alitalia's administrators for more time.
Italy's state railway Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) floated a bid to buy ...

Flights grounded for Italy air traffic strike Tuesday

The World Health Organization chief on Monday urged different political factions in the Democratic Republic of Congo to unite in the battle against Ebola, warning that the risk of spread "remains very high".
"Ebola does not take sides. It is the enemy of everybody," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the organisation's annual assembly in Geneva.
Nearly 1,200 people have died since last August, when the DRC declared a 10th outbreak of Ebola in the country in 40 years.
Efforts to roll back the outbreak have been hampered by fighting in the affected regions and attacks on medical teams, as well as locals who view the international effort at prevention with suspicion.
Tedros said he had met with the DRC's president and with opposition leaders "to urge a bipartisan approach to ending this outbreak." "Unless we unite to end this outbreak we run the risk it will become more widespread and more expansive and more aggressive," he said.
The WHO chief hailed that 

DRC must unite in Ebola fight amid 'high' risk of spread: WHO chief

Lawyers for former South African president Jacob Zuma argued in court Monday that he could not expect a fair trial, as they fought to have corruption charges against him over a multi-million-dollar arms deal dropped.
Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ruling ANC party last year, has been charged with 16 counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to the weapons deal dating back to before he took office in 2009.
Zuma, 77, is accused of taking bribes from French defence company Thales during his time as a provincial economy minister and later as deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1990s.
He allegedly pocketed around four million rand ($280,000, 250,000 euros) from 783 payments handled by Schabir Shaik, a businessman who acted as his financial adviser.
The charges were first brought against Zuma in 2005 but dropped by prosecutors in 2009, before being reinstated in 2016.
Zuma's legal counsel Muzi Sikhakhane said in his opening statement that .

Zuma's lawyers push for S Africa graft trial to be dropped

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday the "genocidal taunts" of US President Donald Trump will not "end Iran", amid a spike in tensions between the two countries.
"Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won't 'end Iran'," Zarif wrote on Twitter.
"Never threaten an Iranian. Try respect -- it works!" he added.
The comments by Iran's top diplomat follow an ominous warning by Trump, who on Sunday suggested the Islamic republic would be destroyed if it attacked US interests.
"If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again," Trump tweeted.
Relations between Washington and Tehran plummeted a year ago when Trump pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and imposed tough sanctions.
Tensions have risen further this month with Washington announcing further economic measures against Tehran, before deploying a carrier group and B-52 bombers to the 

Iran FM Zarif says Trump's 'genocidal taunts won't end Iran'

At least 32 people were killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan, including 24 members of the Islamic State jihadist group and three guards, authorities said Monday.
Five inmates and the three guards were initially killed by prisoners in the riot that erupted on Sunday evening, and the others died in clashes with security forces trying to restore order, the justice ministry said in a statement.
The prison in Vakhdat, 17 kilometres (11 miles) east of the capital Dushanbe, holds 1,500 inmates.
The ministry said the rioters first stabbed to death three guards, and then five other inmates "in order to intimidate" the others.
They then took other prisoners hostage before opening fire in the jail's medical facilities.
"Following a reprisal operation, 24 members of this group were killed and 35 others arrested. The hostages were freed" and calm restored, the statement said.
Two of the prisoners murdered by the rioters were well-known activists of the banned opposition group Islamic Renaissance .

Thirty-two dead in Tajikistan prison riot

Four civilians, two Malian police officers and a customs official were killed in an attack on a border post on Mali's frontier with Burkina Faso, security sources and government officials said Monday.
"Armed men attacked the border post at Kouri on Sunday night," a local policeman said, who asked not to be identified.
"Two gendarmes, a customs officer and four civilians, including two Ghanaians, were killed." Another security source confirmed the toll and said the two Ghanaians were lorry drivers.
"The assailants arrived on three motorbikes and in a car," the source said. "They fired at the gendarmes, the customs officers and the civilian truck drivers." "Right now, we can't confirm who the attackers were. They arrived in Kouri from two directions," a government official said. "We were told that they took the soldiers' boots as they left."
Kouri is a major crossing point for goods entering or leaving Mali.
Mali has been embroiled in conflict since Islamist militias seized the north of 

Seven killed, including two police, in Mali border attack

Japan gambled by resting top-ranked Kento Momota and nearly paid the price, suffering a huge scare before battling back to beat Russia 3-2 in their Sudirman Cup opener here Monday.
The top seeds are bidding to win the mixed-team world championships for the first time, but a major shock was on the cards when the Japanese went 2-1 down.
The unfancied Russians enjoyed surprise victories in the men's singles and men's doubles, before the Japanese fought back in the Chinese city of Nanning.
Japan, who along with the hosts are the favourites, decided to rest world champion Momota along with their first-choice men's pairing.
They were initially unaffected and won the mixed doubles in the opening rubber.  But Russia then took advantage of Japan's weakened side with Vladimir Malkov, ranked 62, beating Momota's replacement Kenta Nishimoto -- 10th in the world -- and also winning the men's doubles.
But Japan's women saved the day for them, world number two Nozomi Okuhara thrashing Natalia ...

Japan survive Sudirman scare after Momota gamble backfires

Germany international Toni Kroos has extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2023 ahead of an expected summer overhaul at the club, the Spanish giants said Monday.
The 29-year-old midfielder has won 12 titles in five seasons in Spain, lifting the Champions League trophy in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Kroos has scored 13 goals in 233 appearances for Real since arriving from Bayern Munich in 2014 after helping Germany win the World Cup in Brazil.
Real finished third in La Liga this term, 19 points behind champions Barcelona after registering their lowest points haul in 17 years, ending with a limp 2-0 home defeat to Real Betis on Sunday.
Coach Zinedine Zidane has promised changes to the squad ahead of next season, with Gareth Bale, goalkeeper Keylor Navas, Nacho, Sergio Reguilon, Isco and Marcos Llorente all tipped to leave the club.

Kroos pens new Real Madrid deal until 2023

Swedish prosecutors on Monday issued a formal request to hold Julian Assange, currently imprisoned in Britain, on suspicion of rape -- a first step towards seeking his extradition to Sweden.
Swedish deputy director of public prosecutions, Eva-Marie Persson, said in a statement she had filed a request with the Uppsala district court to have Assange detained in his absence on suspicion of rape.
Detaining someone in their absence is a standard part of Swedish legal procedure if a suspect is outside the country or cannot be located.
The request follows last week's reopening of a 2010 rape investigation, and Persson added that once the court had granted the request, she would then ask British authorities to transfer Assange to Sweden.
"If the court decides to detain him, I will issue a European Arrest Warrant concerning surrender to Sweden," Persson said.
The Australian whistleblower, who holed himself up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London for seven years to avoid a British extradition ...

Swedish prosecutor issues formal request to hold Assange on rape suspicion

Turkish authorities on Monday ordered the arrest of 249 past and present foreign ministry personnel suspected of ties to the group blamed for a failed 2016 coup, the prosecutor's office said.
At least 78 have already been detained, the office in the capital Ankara said.  The latest crackdown is part of a probe in 42 cities into alleged irregularities in the foreign ministry entrance exam in favour of members of a movement led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.
The suspects joined the foreign ministry between 2010 and 2013, according to the prosecutor's office.
Fourteen are currently serving in the ministry, while the rest had already been removed from their posts, a judicial source told AFP.
Ankara blames Gulen and his followers for orchestrating a failed coup in 2016 aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The movement denies the allegations and insists it is a peaceful group promoting education and moderate Islam.
Tens of thousands of public sector workers, ...

Turkey orders arrest of 249 foreign ministry staff

European firms are "caught in the crossfire" of the US-China trade war and fewer are optimistic about their future in the world's second-largest economy, a business survey showed Monday.
The clash between Beijing and Washington does not benefit European companies, contrary to what some might have hoped at the beginning of the dispute last year, according to the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
"Now the trade tensions are seen as another uncertainty on the business environment, something that won't be sorted out quickly whether there is a deal or not," said chamber vice president Charlotte Roule.
"The trade tensions, according to our members, are not good for business".  According to the survey, the trade war is one of the top concerns for European firms in China (23 per cent), after the Chinese economic slowdown (45 per cent), the global economy (27 per cent) and rising labour costs in China (23 per cent).
The study, which received replies from 585 firms, was conducted in .

EU firms 'caught in crossfire' of US-China trade war

Austrian far-right ministers on Monday were ready to leave their positions after a corruption scandal caused the coalition government to collapse, the party leader said.
Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has called for fresh elections after a camera sting forced his deputy, Heinz-Christian Strache from the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), to resign on Saturday, just ahead of the EU elections.
Since then media speculation has been mounting that Kurz also wants controversial far-right Interior Minister Herbert Kickl out.
"We will give up our government offices if Interior Minister Herbert Kickl is forced out," said Norbert Hofer, who is infrastructure minister and took over the FPOe leadership from Strache on Sunday.
Strache stepped down as vice-chancellor and FPOe leader after recordings published by German media Friday showed him offering government contracts in return for campaign help to a fake Russian backer in a villa on the resort island of Ibiza.
Elsewhere in the footage, ...

Far-right ministers ready to quit Austria gov't after scandal

Twelve suspected jihadists were killed Monday in police raids near Cairo, Egypt's interior ministry said, a day after a bomb blast injured 17 people including tourists near the Giza pyramids.
Security forces "carried out a raid against an apartment in the 6th of October district used for making explosive devices... These forces were shot at and responded, which left seven dead among the group," which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the ministry said in a statement.
In another such raid in Cairo's Al-Shorouk neighbourhood against the militant Hasm group, an armed affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, the ministry said five suspected jihadists were killed in an exchange of fire.
Weapons and ammunition were seized in the two apartments, the interior ministry said.
"As part of the ministry's efforts to tackle the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organisation, information reached national security services" of attacks being prepared by Hasm, the ministry said.
The statement did not directly 

AFP

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